Bumper, The White Rabbit | Page 4

us about your
dreams."
"As soon as I finish my breakfast I will," replied Bumper. "Yes, they
were beautiful dreams! I thought I was in a big place filled with crisp
lettuce and golden carrots, and a girl with red hair picked me up in her

arms and carried me away."
Bumper stopped talking while his brothers looked in amazement at him.
They had heard the day before his story of the red-haired girl who
wanted to buy him, and they were interested. But while they stopped
and waited for him to proceed, Bumper chewed away at his carrot until
it was all gone. Then, picking up a second one, he said: "Now I'm up
with you. I'm on my second carrot. To-morrow morning I'll tell you the
rest of the dream."
Jimsy and Wheedles were greatly surprised and angered at the trick
Bumper had played upon them, and they immediately began eating
their carrots again as fast as they could.
They were in the midst of their breakfast when the old woman came in
the backyard with her basket. All the rabbits set up a commotion then,
for they knew she would choose some of them to take away and sell.
There were two reasons why they all wanted to be chosen.
One was they liked the change from their narrow quarters to the street
corner and the sights of the city. Another was they all hoped some day
to be sold and taken away to a big house where they would be petted
and fed until their little stomachs would nearly burst open. They were a
little crowded in their home, and new baby rabbits were coming all the
time so that if some of them weren't sold they'd soon be walking all
over each other.
"Now, which ones shall I take to-day?" the old woman mumbled,
smiling upon all of them.
They all bobbed their heads and blinked their pink eyes, and Jimsy
jumped over Bumper's back and hopped right into the woman's hands.
"Well, Jimsy," she said, "you seem very anxious to go, so I'll take you
for one."
Wheedles tried the same trick, but it didn't work the second time. "No,
Wheedles, you've got a cold," she said, pushing him back. "People

don't want to buy rabbits that have colds."
Bumper had no cold, and he decided to try his luck, but Topsy, a big
rabbit, got in his way, and nearly bowled him over. Bumper squealed,
and the old woman pushed Topsy away.
"No, you can't go for being so rough," she scolded. "Poor little Bumper,
did Topsy hurt you?"
Bumper was sure then that she intended to take him along with Jimsy;
but no! she put him down gently, and selected three others. Bumper's
disappointment was so great that a tear came into one of his pink eyes.
It was mother who consoled him when the old woman had filled her
basket and left the yard. "Never mind, dear, your time will come.
You're younger than Jimsy."
"But why should I always be left at home?" complained Bumper.
"It's the place for little rabbits," was the reply. "There's no place so safe
and comfortable."
"But you always told us some day we'd find a better home, with plenty
to eat, and nothing to do," whimpered Bumper, who felt quite cross.
"Why did you tell us that?"
Mother rabbit looked quite perplexed for a moment. "I think, dear," she
said finally, "you ask more questions than any child I ever had."
Bumper's eyes shone with amusement. "I have a million more of them
to ask, mother. I dreamt of them last night."
"Then," laughing at him, "find the answers to them in your dreams
to-night."
The next day Bumper had his turn, and then again the following day,
but each time he returned home unsold. Jimsy was bought by a little
boy, and triumphantly carried off, and Wheedles was captured by a girl.
Even Topsy, who was big and clumsy, found a purchaser, and

disappeared from the backyard. On returning home the fourth time,
Bumper was in a disappointed mood, and felt very unhappy.
"Why is it, mother," he asked, "that no one buys me? Am I so homely
that no one wants me?"
"What a question to ask, dear!" smiled mother rabbit. Then, patting him
on the head, she added: "Bend down your ears, and I'll whisper a secret
in them."
Bumper squatted down, and pulled both long ears toward his mother so
he wouldn't miss a word.
"It isn't good for little rabbits to hear what I'm going to tell you," she
whispered. "It often makes them proud and vain; but I suppose you will
know it some day."
Mother rabbit sighed, as if the secret was hard to tell, and not very
pleasant to